I LIVE!

So, lots of new developments have occurred in the... what is it, five months since I've posted? Insane amounts of new developments because apparently starting school again means about a mountain of schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and drama. So for any of you who gave up on me, you basically had every right to.

Also. Fair warning: this is the LAST CHAPTER. I REPEAT. LAST CHAPTER.

And no, I'm not ending it like this because I ran out of ideas and had to think of a speedy cop out. I felt like this was a good place to end, in order to keep the tension for the next installment of Jules' adventures. If you would like to tell me which fandom I should select in the comments, PLEASE DO! Right now I'm think Doctor Who, as Season 8 just ended so I wouldn't have to make any quick adjustments. If so, which Doctor?! However, I, of course, want my work to reach as wide an audience as possible, without alienating any of my current readers! So if you don't watch or don't like Doctor Who, feel free to suggest a different idea! (It is getting harder and harder to maintain the same audience as I increase the number of fandoms, so remember... I can't please everybody :P)

In addition to that, I would like to work on a Sherlock one shot with Jules And Co. Should I wait until after the Christmas special? It might be fun to set it in Victorian times :)

ANYWAYS. ENJOY! 333

Just as I suspected! When I stepped into the Great Hall with my friends, heads turned. Malfoy smirked at me from across the room and I threw a casual arm around Lana's shoulders. She turned to look at me and I winked. Realization flashed across her face and she turned to Ferret-Boy and gave him a small, shy-yet-flirty smile.

Sweet Jesus, she was good.

Anyway, that aside. Eventually, the Slytherins stopped whispering and got back back to eating. Except, naturally, for Malfoy, who stood up and shouted, "Hey, Greene! Where's your boyfriend?!"

Laughter. I noted with pleasure that Professor McGonagall was about to storm down and give him detention, (Snape of course, was smirking) but before she could I yelled right back. "Right here, you jerk!"

This was Nico's cue. He stepped shyly out into the Great Hall. Dead silence. Thankfully, most of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and all of the Gryffindors were were rolling their eyes at Malfoy's little display, but it was obvious they wanted to see how it would play out.

I stared down Malfoy with pleasure. "Looking for someone?"

"You… wha… is this some kind of trick?" Malfoy demanded. "Who is this? I've never seen him before!"

"This *cough cough* is my boyfriend Nico. Didn't I tell you about him? Well, I'm dreadfully sorry. I magicked him in to say hello! Say hello, Nico!"

"Um. Hey."

"You magicked him in? That's illegal!"

Who's grasping at straws now?

"Mr. Malfoy," Professor McGonagall said curtly. "That's quite enough."

"But Prof-"

"I said, enough. As you are perfectly aware, Mr. DiAngelo is merely an exchange student from America, and Miss Greene is being kind enough to get him acquainted here at Hogwarts. Now, I would suggest you stop gaping at me like a fish and return to your meal."

(Okay, okay. Hold up. Why does literally everything sound more imposing and awesome with a Scottish accent? You go, Maggie Smith. Hells yes.)

Exchange student? What? McGonagall obviously would't have lied to save me, let alone if it involved a security breach, so some timey-wimey dimension-y magic must be happening here.

Suh-weet.

Anyways. It was obvious from the look of surprise on most of the kids faces that this was news to them- probably because of their foreknowledge? Like how Percy and Annabeth and Hazel and those crew didn't get fake memories of me being at Camp Half-Blood with them in between visits- the minuscule blue smiley face was still etched into all of our skin. Because they were pre-warned, the mind warp powers didn't have the same effect as they did on teachers who knew nothing about Malfoy's little plan. And yet, I could see students returning to their meals like nothing had happened- (probably less a side-effect of my powers and more them accepting the fact that Malfoy was a douche and totally lied to them.)

Victory tastes sweet, my friends. Victory tastes sweet.

I was still silently basking in the glow of my mini-conquest. Nico looked basically confused as heck, but was taking it like a boss. I caught a couple admiring girls- and guys- sneaking glances at him, (which he of course didn't notice). He was still a little sadder and quieter, I thought, sipping a goblet of pumpkin juice. Not that Nico DiAngelo could ever be described as cheerful and loud, but… whatever. I slid my hand over his under the table.

"You okay?" I asked over the noise.

"Yeah." He smiled shyly, and my throat constricted. God dammit. My cheeks heated up and I mentally cursed myself for being… gross… at a time like this. Bleh. Ugh. Whatever.

Oh my god. Shut uppppp.

"Good." I grinned back at him, possibly a little bit too wide considering that fact that I was ready to… eh… hold hands.

Lana looked up from across the table. "You have food stuck in your teeth."

Nico tried to cover up his snickering. I reached over and flicked Lana with a spoonful of mashed potatoes.

She dabbed her face and turned away to talk to Hermione. A moment later, an entire slice of mince pie went careening into my lap.

Oh that is it.

What was that I did espy? A perfect cut glass tureen of… chocolate pudding.

If Leo was here… but never mind. In an instant, I dumped the contents over Lana's plate, splattering her and everyone else. It only took an instant for food to be flying everywhere, the chaos spreading from Gryffindor to the house tables in an instant.

Fred and George were catapulting spoonfuls of jello into the hair of unsuspecting passerby's. Ron artfully threw a handful of peas at Hermione, who pretended to ignore him only to drop a dozen roast potatoes down his the back of his robes when he wasn't looking.

Wow. A slow, easy smile spread across my face. For once, I didn't have to worry about math tests or jerk teachers or any of that. Well, I did, but everything was somehow better then it was in our corner of the multiverse.

It was good to be back.

I barely noticed the corners of my eyesight starting to blink out.

A blinding, humming white crept into my field of vision. I blinked hard and rubbed my eyes, which did nothing but cause a field of dancing rainbow disco lights to blare in front of my face.

Oh God.

I tried to shake Nico's shoulder, but I could barely feel his shoulder under my fingers. Everything was numb and static-y.

Guys! Help!

I was moving my mouth, but no sound was coming out. Was I? What was going on? The world spun until I was looking at the floor, like my eyeballs were twirled in their sockets. The rainbow lights grew stronger.

There was a strong, pulling feeling just under my heart. I felt as if someone had tied a string around one of my ribs and was pulling, hard, hard, hard like I was moving through sticky peanut butter and… and…

I was on the floor, or maybe I was still sitting. My mind was filled with cotton candy and… and…

What?

Ah! I stood up, or maybe I rolled over, or maybe I tripped over the bench that wasn't there in the first place! I was desperate for any sort of sensory information, swinging my arms into the white void that had completely encompassed my vision. I tried to smell the spiced crackling scent that signified Hecate's presence, but I couldn't control the muscles in my nose, or my face…

I woke up.

Blood was streaming down my nose. I pulled myself off my couch, which was sticky with sweat.

Gross. Grossgrossgrossgrossgross!

I cupped my face, trying to catch the red in my hand, and stumbled to the kitchen for some napkins or paper towels or something. My ears were ringing… huh. Just as I thought that, they subsided. I looked out from my kitchen window, holding a couple napkins to my nose. The sun was peeking out pink and orange from behind the sparse trees marked the transition from our property to our neighbors. I must have woken up way before Brit and Lana.

Great, now I could just sit there awkwardly and stare at them like Edward from Twilight or something.

Except…

I never get nosebleeds. But something, something that felt cold and iron-strong in the back of my head, something that sent chills down my spine, was telling me that I get nosebleeds all the time. No big deal.

I mouthed the words involuntarily.

Something was very, very off. I pressed the palm of my hand to my eyes and—

Nothing. Maybe it was just the remnants of my dream, passing through my mind.

Yeah, that must have been it.

I stood there for a long time, facing the rosy sunlight streaming in through the window, trying to remember something I'd already forgotten.

Lana and Brit didn't wake up in an hour. They didn't wake up in two hours, even when I shook their warm bodies and shouted in their ears. They didn't wake up when their parents came to pick them up, after noon.

They didn't wake up when the sirens came whistling down the street, or when the ambulance parked on our front lawn, or when they were carried into the back on stretchers.

The people at the hospital did blood tests and DNA tests and every sort of test you could think of, and there was nothing in Lana and Brit's system.

My best friends were sleeping.

Just… sleeping.

Their temperature was normal. Their pulses were normal. They breathed in and out in perfect, robotic harmony. To any onlookers, they looked absolutely normal.

For a while I would race home from the bus and sit awkwardly in one of their living rooms while their parents brought me glasses of water. I would drop off their homework, in case they woke up and wanted to catch up on school work (yeah right).

For a while after that, I would go everywhere with the ringer on my phone turned up to full blast until one of them called. After a few detentions, I stopped. I let go. I got up when my alarm went off. I went to school. I came home and did a little homework, and then I went to sleep.

I never dreamed anymore. That was almost worse then nightmares—the total absence of my subconscious. It wasn't that I just didn't remember my dreams. I could remember them fine, but they always seemed like blank white voids. Not black. Just white. White as a sheet of paper.

And always, always, always, there was that iron in my brain. Pressing in the back on my skull. Cold, foreign. I knew—I knew something.

Something important.

Because I never get nosebleeds. But now I was getting them all the time.

WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!

KEEP WATCHING TO DISCOVER THE CAUSE OF HER MYSTERIOUS AILMENT. AND DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!